Neil Lennon has bemoaned the lack of incoming activity throughout the January transfer window, but he finally got his wish as Bolton Wanderers went on a mini spree on Monday.
The only signings before deadline day were striker Adam Le Fondre, on loan from Cardiff, and young Portuguese starlet Rochinha, as well as the emergency loan of young goalkeeper Ben Amos. But Lennon was still keen for more bodies to help Bolton climb the table in the second half of the season.
The big news for Wanderers on deadline day was the confirmation that Chung-Yong Lee would indeed be heading to Crystal Palace, for a fee believed to be around £500,000 with add-ons potentially doubling that figure.
The next problem was who to replace him with. And the first answer came in the form of Scotland midfielder Barry Bannan, who moved in the opposite direction to Lee signing on loan until the end of season from Palace. Bannan could be an astute signing for Bolton, he has 19 Scotland caps and plenty of talent but has never really established as a first name on the teamsheet at Palace or his first club Aston Villa. He’ll certainly add drive and a good range of passing from midfield.
Following Bannan into the midfield ranks came a man described as ‘the Bulgarian Lampard’ when he was linked with moves to the Premier League last year. Simeon Slavchev has signed on loan from Portuguese side Sporting, who signed the Bulgarian for 2.5 million Euros last May.
The 21-year-old has yet to play for Sporting but did score 14 goals from midfield in his final season at Litex Lovech. He has also won 3 caps for Bulgaria and won the Bulgarian Young Player of the Year back in 2013 – so he’s clearly a good young talent.
Lennon clearly felt the midfield needed extra legs as he also decided to bring in Celtic midfielder Filip Twardzik.The Czech central midfielder, who turns 22 a week today, has made five first-team appearances for the Scottish champions since signing for them four years ago. He’s represented the Czech Republic at both Under-17 and Under-19 level, and Lennon will know him well from his time as manager of Celtic.
Also joining Bolton’s ranks is young Manchester United midfielder Saidy Janko. But the most astounding thing about this deal is the fact that we have done a ‘loan swap’ with his parent club for our young full-back Andy Kellett. It’s a strange deal but Janko needs first-team experience and it’ll certainly be beneficial to spend time around the United team.
We’ve also seen somewhat of an exodus heading through the doors of the Macron in January. In addition to Lee, the likes of Jay Spearing, Medo Kamara and Keith Andrews have gone out on loan, to Blackburn, Maccabi Haifa and MK Dons respectively. Young forward Conor Wilkinson has been moved out on loan to Oldham Athletic, while Sanmi Odelusi has joined Coventry City on loan and Hayden White and Kaiyne Woolery have both gone out to Notts County on loan. Meanwhile, academy product Joe Riley has joined Bury permanently after failing to cement a place at the Macron.
So all in all it’s been a fairly active month for Wanderers, with several new faces in and several going out. Bolton fans are generally unhappy to see the back of Chungy, but the fact is that we have done well to get money for him rather than him leaving on a free transfer in the summer. Bannan could well be a good replacement for Chungy, as he brings creativity that we’ve been lacking, not to mention Premier League and international experience.
We also now have a good blend of youth and experience, with new 19-year-olds Rochinha and Janko and 21-year-olds Slavchev and Twardzik contrasting 36-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen and 37-year-old Emile Heskey.
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